Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Bought by Fortis Group Advisors LLC

Fortis Group Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 891.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,988 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,283 shares during the period. Fortis Group Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $318,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,279,658 shares of the company’s stock worth $535,701,000 after purchasing an additional 242,442 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 120.6% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,762,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $382,201,000 after purchasing an additional 4,789,788 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,681,943 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,870,000 after purchasing an additional 617,900 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 24.4% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,674,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,567,000 after purchasing an additional 915,478 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 3,754,522 shares of the company’s stock worth $163,772,000 after purchasing an additional 54,096 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of MO traded up $0.41 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $53.77. The company had a trading volume of 8,010,061 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,355,649. The stock has a market cap of $92.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.66. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $45.50. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.06 and a fifty-two week high of $53.82.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.25% and a negative return on equity of 232.55%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.31 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.59%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 85.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on MO shares. Argus raised shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.08.

Altria Group Profile

Altria Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells smokeable and oral tobacco products in the United States. The company offers cigarettes primarily under the Marlboro brand; large cigars and pipe tobacco under the Black & Mild brand; moist smokeless tobacco and snus products under the Copenhagen, Skoal, Red Seal, and Husky brands; oral nicotine pouches under the on! brand; and e-vapor products under the NJOY ACE brand.